Biology teachers’ perceptions about field trips and their pre-service preparation

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that although being aware of the considerable supplementary benefits of field trips for biology lessons in high school, biology teachers complain about difficulties when planning and implementing field trips. In addition to these barriers, teachers indicate that their pre-service preparation for field trips is insufficient. Thus, the current study investigated biology teachers’ (N=39) perceptions about field trips and related pre-service preparation. Survey data was collected from 10 public and four private schools in Ankara. The significant findings showed that as the years of teaching increased, the teachers considered field trips more challenging especially for providing student safety and being supported by administration. Additionally, the results indicated that the biology teachers with an undergraduate degree considered field trips more challenging than teachers who had earned their Master’s or doctorate. Furthermore, while private school teachers had higher confidence levels and considered field trips more beneficial, public school teachers focused more on the challenges. There were notable differences between male and female teachers regarding perceptions of financial constraints, parental support for field trips and confidence level. Moreover, the field trip activities in pre-service preparation were seemed they were restricted to participation level. Lastly, to eliminate the challenges and include field trip related objectives to classroom lessons, this study suggests adding various field trip activities by teacher education institutions than participation.